Terrible performance with 8800 GTS

K

Killroy42

n00b
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
14
Before we start, i will outline the fixes i have tried for my problem. These include:

-Reinstalling newest 196 drivers(officially and with driver cleaner)
-Frames to render ahead fix
-Older drivers
-Bunch of other nonsense.
-Asked the people on the nVidia forums (useless)

Now that that's out of the way, i have a BFG 8800 GTS with 640 MB and overclocked (OC2) with an AMD Athlon 4200 + dual core processor and 2 GB or ram. I have a 7200 RPM HDD and a 500 Watt PSU on windows XP 32 bit. I am having performance issues with a specific game (Oblivion) which is fully patched. This doesn't concern other games as they run fine and as they should..

I get horrid, and i mean really bad performance in almost all areas, and my framerate NEVER climbs above 60-70. I am running on a 1600 x 1050 resolution and have tried to adjust sliders and graphics setting in oblivion many times, only to have the framerate constantly fall to below 20. I have read up on other people's performance, and based on what i've seen, i should be running this silky smooth at full setting with no AA or AF which is what i intend to do. I will not settle for lowering my settings because i think i should be able to run oblivion with a 500$ video card.

I also experience bad frame rates in Team Fortress 2 and Half life 2 : episode 2 as they sink down to the 20's and 10's at certain points, which i understand simply shouldn't happen.

I need some sort of fix or something i can do, and my options do not include replacing any hardware at the moment. Also, my PSU's ampere rating for the 12v thing isn't what it should be, it needs 26A and mine only has 18. I doubt that's the cause but anything is possible.

Another option i am considering is returning my video card for another one since i have my warranty and that may solve things but once again, there is no reason i shouldn't be able to run oblivion on max settings.
 
You said a "500 Watt PSU" and that could be the problem. Could you please tell us what brand/model it is? It could be a generic one for all we know, something that came with your case.
 
Mr. Stryker said:
You said a "500 Watt PSU" and that could be the problem. Could you please tell us what brand/model it is? It could be a generic one for all we know, something that came with your case.
Click to expand...

Yes it came with the case and it is very generic. Deer or something like that, but again, i don't understand what that has to do with anything. My friend had a crap PSU and he upgraded and it didn't do anything for him.
 
Eh Deer is PRETTY bad .. id say deff get a new PSU , for 50$ you can find the xclio goodpower 500watt an its a very good psu


and on the note of Team Fortress 2 Dropping 10's-20's , i have that time to time on a 32 man server i drop to mid 20's so its perfectly normal , i run it @ 1680x1050 maxed out just no AA
 
Killroy42 said:
Before we start, i will outline the fixes i have tried for my problem. These include:

-Reinstalling newest 196 drivers(officially and with driver cleaner)
-Frames to render ahead fix
-Older drivers
-Bunch of other nonsense.
-Asked the people on the nVidia forums (useless)

Now that that's out of the way, i have a BFG 8800 GTS with 640 MB and overclocked (OC2) with an AMD Athlon 4200 + dual core processor and 2 GB or ram. I have a 7200 RPM HDD and a 500 Watt PSU on windows XP 32 bit. I am having performance issues with a specific game (Oblivion) which is fully patched. This doesn't concern other games as they run fine and as they should..

I get horrid, and i mean really bad performance in almost all areas, and my framerate NEVER climbs above 60-70. I am running on a 1600 x 1050 resolution and have tried to adjust sliders and graphics setting in oblivion many times, only to have the framerate constantly fall to below 20. I have read up on other people's performance, and based on what i've seen, i should be running this silky smooth at full setting with no AA or AF which is what i intend to do. I will not settle for lowering my settings because i think i should be able to run oblivion with a 500$ video card.

I also experience bad frame rates in Team Fortress 2 and Half life 2 : episode 2 as they sink down to the 20's and 10's at certain points, which i understand simply shouldn't happen.

I need some sort of fix or something i can do, and my options do not include replacing any hardware at the moment. Also, my PSU's ampere rating for the 12v thing isn't what it should be, it needs 26A and mine only has 18. I doubt that's the cause but anything is possible.

Another option i am considering is returning my video card for another one since i have my warranty and that may solve things but once again, there is no reason i shouldn't be able to run oblivion on max settings.
Click to expand...

I've got the same card at the same resolution and I dip down to 10 reasonably often, but I'm using some pretty demanding mods (EVWD, QTP3), and 4xAA. Looks like you're running a little slow, but I wouldn't say "terrible"

If the card isn't whining (it has a power alarm) and it isn't producing artifacts I wouldn't worry about the PSU. Maybe try the card in another computer and see if the performance is still poor. If so, it's a hardware problem and you should RMA it. Otherwise, try a format. Not so sure that Driver Cleaner always works...
 
RedLancerOz said:
Eh Deer is PRETTY bad .. id say deff get a new PSU , for 50$ you can find the xclio goodpower 500watt an its a very good psu


and on the note of Team Fortress 2 Dropping 10's-20's , i have that time to time on a 32 man server i drop to mid 20's so its perfectly normal , i run it @ 1680x1050 maxed out just no AA
Click to expand...

I doubt that, the source engine doesn't (shouldn't) take a lot to run and as far as i know, everyone i've asked about this gets around 80 frames on TF2 on my resolution and more importantly, a smooth framerate in oblivion. I've been disappointed with the performance of some games which don't seem to run as well as the benchmarks say they will. I've been considering exchanging my video card to eliminate that possibility but i don't know. I looked upa bunch of benchmarks for TF2 and it runs at 100 frames with 4xAA and 16xAF on average, and that's with a retail version, and not overclocked like mine. I also have Gears of war and that runs at around 50 fps average with no AA or AF but i looked up a benchmark for that and it went 60 fps average on a retail card with 4xAA and 16xAF.
 
Okay, i'm going to try and end this right now. I'm going to download a free 3dmark06 and see what rating i get. If it's anywhere near 9000, then i know everything is fine, and the problem somehow lays in oblivion.
 
Ok, i just ran oblivion with 1600 x 1050 with 4xAA and 16xAF with everything high and HDR on and i went into bravil during daytime, only to have the framerate plummet to 7... It never went above 20 in that town until i turned actor fade,object,and item fades to 0 on the slider (lowest setting). I understand someone playing with 1900 x 1200 resolution with 8xAA and 16xAF got the low, low framerate of 21 as the worst, and an average of 50, which i only have whilst looking at the ground. Should i roll back my drivers? is there something clearly wrong with my physical video card? Will getting a new power supply fix any of this?
 
what'd you get on 3dmark 06 , last time i ran it i got 10,### ish' , an yah it is pretty normal for TF2 to drop that low lol , it is a heavy modded source engine my buddies rig drops that low too an hes running

e4300 @ 3.2 , 2gb ddr2 800mhz , 8800gts , running 1680x1050 all maxed out no AA also

both of us are running vista 64bit , using the latest drivers from nvidia.com
 
Oblivion is still a GPU killer, why is everyone here assuming the OP has a problem and suggesting power supply problems etc lol

His performance looks pretty good, ready some GT and G92 GTS reviews with tests in Oblivion.

At 1600x1200 4AA, "average" FPS is about 45FPS, whats the problem?

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=3

Haven't played Oblivion for a while but it does have some massive FPS drops in certain areas, hitting towards 20 would not be surprising with a X2 processor.
 
My system tested 6643 on 3dmark 06 which is appropriate based on how it plays oblivion. Why it's this low, i have no idea. Could someone try and explain this to me? Also, my framerate during the cpu test was either 0 or 1, whatever that means.
 
Killroy42 said:
My system tested 6643 on 3dmark 06 which is appropriate based on how it plays oblivion. Why it's this low, i have no idea. Could someone try and explain this to me? Also, my framerate during the cpu test was either 0 or 1, whatever that means.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not right. The 0 and 1 in the CPU tests is normal. What were your SM2.0 and SM3.0 test scores in 3dmark (your CPU scores will probably suck but the SM scores are all GPU). Not sure if the 8800 cards downclock if they aren't getting enough power or not - they do make that horrible screeching noise if you don't have external power hooked up, so you'd know if that was the problem. Download GPU-Z and see what clockspeeds it is reporting for the card, maybe the card is underclocked or something.

Actually, what do you have set in the control panel? Are you forcing AA or AF or something? Because that could cause your low scores.
 
Forceman said:
Yeah, that's not right. The 0 and 1 in the CPU tests is normal. What were your SM2.0 and SM3.0 test scores in 3dmark (your CPU scores will probably suck but the SM scores are all GPU). Not sure if the 8800 cards downclock if they aren't getting enough power or not - they do make that horrible screeching noise if you don't have external power hooked up, so you'd know if that was the problem. Download GPU-Z and see what clockspeeds it is reporting for the card, maybe the card is underclocked or something.

Actually, what do you have set in the control panel? Are you forcing AA or AF or something? Because that could cause your low scores.
Click to expand...

I am only forcing AA and AF in nvidia control panel for Oblivion so i don't think it would affect this but i will let it be program controlled and see what happens.
 
Forceman said:
Yeah, that's not right. The 0 and 1 in the CPU tests is normal. What were your SM2.0 and SM3.0 test scores in 3dmark
Download GPU-Z and see what clockspeeds it is reporting for the card, maybe the card is underclocked or something.
Click to expand...

Give the breakdown of the 3Dmark scores
SM2.0, SM3.0 and CPU scores
Post a screeny of GPU-Z
 
Well, here's the GPU-Z screenshot...

GPU-zdiag.jpg


Here's a link to the 3dmark diag page, hope it works for you guys.
 
At least i'm only 1000 points or so away from the guy's score who ran oblivion on 1900 x 1200 with the 8xAA and 16xAF on max, and i would like to know if buying a new power supply would put me closer to 9000 or if it will have an effect at all. According to this score though, you can all agree that i should be able to play oblivion with max 1600 x 1050 with no AA or AF with as good as if not better than the other guy. I will now reveal the identity of this "other guy" and in addition to all the other pages of his article, which you may read, you will notice my 3dmark rating is only around a 1000 less. Link
 
Boy, that CPU score looks really low - maybe that is what is killing you. Parts of Oblivion are seriously CPU-bound, so maybe that is all it is. The SM scores look about right for an 8800GTS G80 core.
 
Forceman said:
Boy, that CPU score looks really low - maybe that is what is killing you. Parts of Oblivion are seriously CPU-bound, so maybe that is all it is. The SM scores look about right for an 8800GTS G80 core.
Click to expand...

As far as i know, my processor should work perfectly with oblivion as it is above recommended... Maybe it's an overheating issue or something, or maybe i screwed something over while editing the configuration file. I only followed what oblivion tweaking guide told me to and checked it over many times. I also enabled some multithreading or hyperthreading option in that configuration file, but i doubt that is the cause as i remember that it didn't run well from the day i first started playing... So that's it then? Everything is in order, as i feared, yet i can't seem to play oblivion... This will truly haunt me until i solve it, but thanks to everyone here who helped, so at least i know my computer is supposed to run it well for sure. Also, i would appreciate some suggestions as to what else could be wrong and some other things i could try.
 
Over recommended doesnt mean running the game at "Max" with high-fps.

I bet its cpu-limited. also did you say you are running the pc on a PSU that doesnt have enough amps on the 12v rail? check that out.
 
postal21 said:
Over recommended doesnt mean running the game at "Max" with high-fps.

I bet its cpu-limited. also did you say you are running the pc on a PSU that doesnt have enough amps on the 12v rail? check that out.
Click to expand...

I'm going out tomorrow to see if i can buy this . If it works, it works. If not, then i needed a new PSU anyway and i will buy one more 120 mm fan for the case to keep things cool.
 
Just an update, someone said it could be from my 667 mhz ram so if anyone knows something about that, don't hesitate to post because i will check back every so often.
 
Your 3D Mark CPU score is definitely the reason for the lower 3DMark score due to being only a 4200+ not overclocked, dragging down your overall score, and does effect the SM2 and Sm3 result also.

3D Mark can be a red hearing when compared to real life gaming, someone that scores 8K in 3D Mark06 may only get a few frames less in a high end game than someone scoring 11K, especially due to the CPU score and how the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolution in most games. This is a tad situational but broadly speaking.

I don't see your Oblivion performance as particularly unusual.

Its not the DDR667, will have a minor effect over running at DDR800 or more but not much.

Best thing you can do is overclock that X2, no question.
 
The 4200 should NOT pull his 3dMark06 score down to mid-6k. I still say it's his power supply. I'm actually getting concerned about it because if he pushes that PSU any more, it'd give in and fry the whole system and cost him even more in the long run. As of now, I recommend an Xclio 500 or higher, and an Arctic Freezer 64 Pro heatsink so he can overclock if his current one isn't cutting it.
 
Did you run driver cleaner or anything prior? Get rid of any pesky things that could be floating around
 
Mr. Stryker said:
The 4200 should NOT pull his 3dMark06 score down to mid-6k. I still say it's his power supply. I'm actually getting concerned about it because if he pushes that PSU any more, it'd give in and fry the whole system and cost him even more in the long run. As of now, I recommend an Xclio 500 or higher, and an Arctic Freezer 64 Pro heatsink so he can overclock if his current one isn't cutting it.
Click to expand...

I agree. I get 6k on my rig and i have an OCed 256mb x1900xt. Something is definitely not right.
 
With that Corsair PSU, that should answer the PSU question. Plus it's a quality PSU and you should be pretty confident that it'll provide good power if you want to OC your CPU. I would say boosting your CPU to 2.4 or 2.6Ghz would balance out your system a bit. Do you have 2GB of RAM in your system?
 
Are you sure? In the 3dmark link he posted I see a score of 7937. That sounds right for his processor and GPU. It shows his X2 4200+ is clocked at 2.2 Ghz. I previously had an Opteron 165 @ 2.4 Ghz w/ a 8800 GTS 320 and my best score was 8703 and this included overclocking the GPU to 600/1800. The 700 point difference seems consitent with 200 Mhz more and the overclocked GPU.

His results:
3DMark Score 7937 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3572 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 3952 Marks
CPU Score 1684 Marks

My Opty 165 results:
3DMark Score 8703 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4092 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4114 Marks
CPU Score 1873 Marks

And if you are interested, here is the 3dmark jump by upgrading to an Intel E2180 @ 3.2 Ghz w/ the same video card @ 650/2000:

3DMark Score 11426 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 5105 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5206 Marks
CPU Score 2782 Marks
 
As for this PSU discussion - he might well have a low-quality PSU that would benefit from being replaced, but surely it wouldn't cause the graphics card to slow down? Lock up or otherwise fault, maybe, but not work fine but slowly.
 
It is very possible that the power supply can degrade the performance for 3D. I have witnessed this myself.
 
I'm a little confused here, some people are saying get a new PSU, and some are saying get a new intel processor, but as some may be aware, i only have a socket AM2, and i'm not about to buy a new motherboard and create a whole new mess of problems. I could, however, buy the new AMD phenom, which may not have as good performance as the best intel quad, but it's also at a much lower price. The problem with that is it's designed for an AM2+ and based on what i've heard, the performance on an AM2 slot is lowered due to a lack of support for new technologies. What i want to know is how much lower would my performance be? It's still quad core, so it can't be that bad... And to answer someone else's question, i do have 2GB of RAM.
 
If gaming is your concern you don't need a new CPU. None of those games are so CPU limited to the point that you'd get 10FPS. I think the a bad PSU is definitely something to check out though, look at getting a quality 500W unit, it'd be a shame to have good hardware get fried by a cheap PSU.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top